


Crash outside the borders of a church

by willowthorn



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Car Accidents, Hurt/Comfort, Other, failed heist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29117574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willowthorn/pseuds/willowthorn
Summary: The chime is given a simple mission - pull the information from the church basement, using the wedding going on above as a cover.
Relationships: AuDy/Cassander Timaeus Berenice
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Crash outside the borders of a church

**Author's Note:**

  * For [harpydora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/harpydora/gifts).



The church rises above them, glittering glass and weather-worn pale grey stone. It’s ancient, from some architect’s third-hand memory of old, old Earth churches. It’s unfamiliar to all of them, the blueprints memorised doing little to prepare them for the vaulting ceilings and the heavy scent of incense and flowers. The smell tickles Cass’ gills, and they wish for a moment they had a higher collar to help block that out as they took their place in the pews, shaking hands and acting friendly with one of the non-acting plants Orth had placed to help with their infiltration. 

The wedding itself will conclude in an hour, meaning they had 25 minutes to act. Mako stretches near the front, waving to one of the groomsmen, who shifts happily where he stands before going over to the short blond. Cass glances back, spotting AuDy by the door, a bowtie pinned to their vest opposite to their sunglasses. They glance over to Aria across the long divide of the hall, and fixes their hair behind their ear - the glint of their watch in her eye is enough for her to nod, touching her own briefly to confirm their message. Everyone was in place. Mako was already wiggling excitedly, gesturing silently to the poor sap he would knock out in about 15 minutes just behind one of the pillars draped in flowers and gauzy bows leading to the wings of the church.

The few minutes they get to see of the ceremony are lovely - Aria leaves crying crocodile tears as the bride glides down the aisle, white dress glittering like morning dew. Cass follows after 10 minutes, expressing their concern in a low voice to the guy they were supposed to know beside them. Their low heels click down the halls until they find Aria crouched beside the stairs. They kneel, hand on her shoulder as one of the pre-drunk bridesmaids stumbled down the hall.

“Oh, I suppose she dumped you for that hoe of a dick too, huh? Well, fuck her!” She yells, spotting Aria. Cass glowers at her, playing the offended friend as Aria bursts back into tears. 

“Yeesh, she’s not worth that many tears.” The bridesmaid scoffs before stumbling off once again - when she paused at the end at the hall to look back at the two, perhaps to give some hard-won wisdom to the poor girl crouched on the floor, they were gone. 

Cass huffs a laugh as they caught Aria’s eye descending the stairs.

“I know, right?” Aria whispers back, a laugh threatening at her lips. Five minutes, and through a twisting route they find themselves shoulder to shoulder to Mako. Cass watches the left wing, Aria guards the right as Mako reaches out, weaving his way through the mesh until he hears the gentle click of the door. 

“Go, go, go!” He hisses, the two minute window they had to get into the basement proper slowly closing. Aria slips in, already halfway down the initial hall by the time Mako sprints after her, Cass guarding the rear. 

There wasn’t supposed to be anyone waiting for them, backlit by the glow of the terminal they were supposed to pull the information from, the shadow of their gun clicking as they levelled it with Aria’s stunned face. 

“You thought we really wouldn’t notice? Tell me who sent you - names, locations, affiliations.” Aria raises her hands slowly as she hears the click of another rifle beside her, Mako’s shadow at her back as he stumbles to a halt. Cass is still in the hall. It only takes a glance to Mako to decide how to act. 

He twists beside her, using her shoulder to help him kick away the rifle beside them. She uses his momentum to rush the silhouetted figure, the door crashing heavy against the wall as Cass kicks their way in, their own gun pulled from the fabric of their jacket. Mako wrestles with the guard, all elbows and kicking heels as they push him harshly against the cold stone that served as the basement walls. They release him only as they feel the press of Cass’ gun in the air beside them. 

Aria has less luck. 

She can see her target now, bright orange hair and peach coloured gloss on their lips as they smirk down at her, the gun level with her heart as she turns against the consol, chest heaving. She knew she should have been wearing her running heels, easy operation or no. 

“Wow, you really think you’re clever! On the ground, Apostolosian, or this will be a funeral instead of a wedding.” 

It’s easy to make the call. Cass scowls, dropping their rifle and raising their hands. Mako hisses as the grunt grabs him by the collar, walking him to kneel beside Cass. Cass’ own legs are kicked out from under them, the hard floor bruising their knees as they land. 

“That’s much better. Now, tell me who you work for. You better call your pet robot too - don’t think I didn’t notice it waiting for you.” 

“AuDy isn’t a pet.” Cass growls, grunting as the crack of the guard’s hand dyes their cheek red. 

“Call your bot, fish.” Cass glares past them, lips in a tight line as they lock eyes with Aria, who nods. Peach gloss has their attention on Cass, watching with visible delight as their hair is pulled, forced to look up as Mako hunkers down, drawing into himself. 

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be. You already failed - why try to resist now? We’ll find your people, one way or another.” Peach gloss looks so confident, Cass feels almost reluctant that they can’t watch them double over in pain as the piece in their ear explodes with sound, the guard’s lapse in attention all that they needed to tackle them, Mako rushing past the two of them as Cass wrestled the larger person fully to the ground. Aria pulls her own gun, levels it with the short orange curls of her previous captor. 

It takes Mako all of a minute to pull the information they were looking for, red light throwing their shadows into stark relief as the alarm system trips. Cass feels the body below them still struggling, an angry bruise already on Cass’ cheek as Aria tosses them their gun. They bring it down against the head of the guard, and their body goes limp as Cass goes to tie their other obstacle to the desk. 

“You’ll be sorry for this - we’ll find you, you won’t make it back to the bastard that hired you.” They curse, but move their arms without resistance as Cass anchors them in place. 

They were so confident, even as they walked out of the church into the open air, AuDy at the bottom of the steps already waiting for them with their getaway car. 

Of course it could never be that easy. 

They’re about two blocks away when they hear the screech of tires, AuDy twisting the wheel sharply as a van slam into their own smaller car. Cass’ arms fly up to cover their face before their stomach finishes dropping, voluntary movement stripped away as the seatbelt locks around them, the momentum throwing them against their chair. The front of the car crumples, paper against the force. Mako is yelling something. There are sparks. There is silence.

Aria is crying as she frees herself, Mako right behind her. Sound returns. They can hear Mako struggling with their door, Aria trying to pull AuDy out. There are people moving, people in black, people with guns. 

“You have to run.” Cass barks through the broken window as AuDy drops to the ground, the bottom half of them missing, wires trailing black. 

“Go!” They hear AuDy say at the same time, Mako’s jaw tight as he follows Aria’s clattering heels away. 

They are alone, not even a car length apart. AuDy doesn’t move. There are people approaching.

Cass acts without thinking. Glass is a poor substitute for a knife, their fingers slipping in their own blood as they rip a jagged line through their seatbelt. They try to move their legs. They fail to move their legs. White pain overtakes them, and next they know there are people at their door. 

They still the motion of their breathing as best they can. They try to go limp, to not flinch as one bangs on the roof. It works. They hear laughter, they hear them searching the back. 

“Shit, nothing there!” The dull thump of a gloved hand hitting leather.

“Boss’ kill us.” Another grumbles from where they leaned against the wreck. Their gun thumps lazy in their grip against the roof. “Wanna take a picture of the fish to cheer em up?”

“Eh, sure.” Cass’ chest hurts, but finally they leave. They don’t even notice AuDy as they disappear down the street, leaving Cass to take deep breaths, their hands braced against metal as they try again to move. They’re slower this time, feeling something move in the meat of their calf. Their teeth rip into their lips as they try to keep themself quiet. It mostly works.

They fall back boneless after their third attempt, sweat stinging their eyes. They tell themselves it’s sweat. Cass blinks back the blurring of their eyes, wipes their cheeks with their sleeve. 

Thump. 

They bite their tongue as they jolt, flinching away from the window. There was nobody there that they could see - still trapped, unable to lean their body out the window to check in full, their fingers find the bloody glass they had dropped after cutting their seatbelt and they watch as their door begins to dent and crumple.

AuDy’s hands reach through, probing the inside of the door. Cass chokes on air, reaching out to brush their hands against AuDy’s. It’s a momentary relief. 

“I’m ok, it’s ok.” They lean into AuDy as best they can when the door falls away with a horrible clatter. The one arm that AuDy isn’t using to support themself comes arounds them, squeezing lightly. 

“Can you move?” AuDy asks when they pull away, looking towards the mess of metal and plastic covering Cass’ legs. 

“I still have sensation, so probably.” Cass admits, tensing as AuDy moves to help them. Black is still oozing from the wires that trail on the ground. They’ll need to stop moving soon or they’ll lose function. 

“This will hurt.” AuDy says in warning before they pull, the noise Cass makes obscured by the grinding of metal and the crunch of plastic. 

When their vision clears again, they can see their legs, the ripped and bloody fabric of their trousers. They can see a spike of metal pulling the flesh of their calf, their connection to the car broken by AuDy’s hands. 

“You’ve been perforated.” AuDy has their hand on their thigh, grip firm. “What do I need to do?” 

“How long do we have?” Cass’ voice is less steady than they would like, a sick twisting in their gut as they wiggle their toes, slowly testing to see how motion was still possible. 

“Not long. Traffic has been blocked, but emergency services should be here soon.”

“Great, ok.” Cass takes a shuddering breath, pulling their hair back. “I need to… To stabilize my leg. Fabric.” They pull their jacket out from under themself, fingers clumsy as they try to rip the sleeve. AuDy’s grip is stronger, dividing the sleeve easily. 

Moving hurts. Cass swings their legs carefully out of the car, AuDy resting against the frame of the car as Cass works. 

“You’ll have to run.” AuDy says, the sirens in the distance growing louder.

“God this will suck.” Cass breathes deeply, taking AuDy’s hand as they try to stand. 

“It will. Keep your hand on me - I’ll run with you.” 

They move together, Cass leaning heavily on AuDy’s shoulders as they limp as quickly as they can into the shelter of the shadows of the alley. They can barely hear the sirens for the buzzing in their ears as they feel warmth running thick and sluggish down their leg. AuDy’s steps begin to falter about a block away from the crash.

“Easy, AuDy. Don’t pass out on me now.” Cass has both hands on them now, trying to ignore the rusty smears they leave behind. Their leg feels numb and burning in turns.

“This is far enough… we should rest. You should rest.” AuDy stumbles behind a dumpster, the cramped alley stinking. There’s a fire escape hanging over them, blocking them from any prying eyes from above, the sounds of the street far away. 

Cass leans heavily against the wall, knowing that if they sat down they wouldn’t be able to get up again easily. AuDy’s torso drops against the ground, neither one of them having the energy or tools necessary to take care of the trail of mixed blood and oil marking their path. AuDy’s arm is cool beside Cass’ leg, the grit from the brick sticking to the remains of Cass’ jacket.

They’re there for a long time. 

Eventually, Cass can’t keep themself standing anymore, slumping down beside AuDy. Their leg rests out to the side in an awkward bend to try and keep the still present metal from accidentally being jostled. AuDy’s fingers wrap around their wrist, tracing over bone and scales before twisting their fingers together.

“They’ll come soon.” They say, Cass nodding as they squeeze their hand tighter, and wait for AuDy to squeeze back

They smell the thick, metallic taint to the air from their leg, from AuDy’s wires. It’ll cling to their clothes, they know, but as their vision grows hazy and the adrenaline stops pumping they want nothing but the stupid flickering light of the Kingdom Come’s infirmary. They want AuDy’s hands, cold and firm but not unpleasant, not easily shaken off like they would be now, their lights dim. They want to clean the dirt off Mako’s cheeks - they were sure he hadn’t cleaned himself up yet. They want to comb their hand through Aria’s straight, soft hair. They want some antiseptic. 

——- 

The Kingdom Come is quiet. Cene has come and gone, AuDy’s legs replacement legs ready to be attached in three days when they arrive. Mako has a package tracking app running in the back of his brain, which he manually refreshes every time he’s bored, or worried, or lingering outside of the infirmary with a blanket on his shoulders because it’s better than leaning against the cold corridor walls. 

Aria does not pace. She fixes her hair, changes her clothes, tunes her guitar, and tells Orth the briefing can wait until they all can sit up and talk again. 

Cass had been so pale. AuDy’s lights weren’t on, and she hadn’t been able to hear the usual ambient whirring when she had lifted them.. Orth could wait. 

AuDy was fine, of course. Cene had said they were fine, and nobody knew AuDy like Cene. So she had to trust them. Even when AuDy didn’t really say anything as she wrapped her arms around them beyond asking about Cass, and hadn’t moved from holding their wrist in the infirmary. They were fine. Cass would wake up fully again, and it would be for longer than five minutes, and they would all have some tea and laugh about what a stupid mission it was. 

They would be fine. Aria was sure of it. 

When Cass wakes it’s to the sterile air of the infirmary. The weight on their torso is instant, a small blue body pressed against them even as AuDy stays steady, their hand a constant on Cass’s wrist. 

“Hey Mako.” They huff, running their hand over short blond hair before settling their arm across his shoulders. AuDy tracks them, the creasing at the corner of their eyes as they turn a tired smile their way. 

“I’ll go get Aria.” AuDy offers after a long minute.

“Stay - she’s probably on her way already. I think my hand would feel weird without you holding it at this point anyway.” They huff, still smiling, still exhausted, and AuDy shifts their hand so their fingers can wrap together, squeezing slightly. 

“Better?” 

“Much.”

**Author's Note:**

> I’ll probably rework the title at some point, I’m not happy with it. It’s been a tiring year, but secret samol always is a delight. Thank you for the wonderful prompt!


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